You know that doesn’t work, right?

So we’ve talked a bunch, in various formats, about spreading the word.

I keep coming back to a fundamental belief. It’s more or less “wtf are you thinking?” I am still confused as to why you’re under the impression that preaching to people works – that talking down to those who disagree with you works.

I mean, yes, there are people for whom that would work – the way the religious right in the US has demonstrated that. In that case, however, the “preacher” is offering an easy way to be part of the superior mob – there’s little or no effort involved in calling someone else a moron.

It’s much harder to engage someone in discussion and make them want to do work towards your effort. The people who are more inclined to actually do that aren’t likely to respond well to being told they’re stupid or miserly or NIMBY or what have you as a way to get their attention.

Ultimately, getting people to change their mind about something is easiest done by finding their “currency” – what is the thing they want. Just because you don’t think it’s valuable doesn’t mean that they don’t. Find someone’s currency and you can pretty much get them to do anything. Parents have been using this trick for generations now. Trust me, it works.

I think what you’re trying to do is awesome. I slap my forehead in frustration when I look at the way you’re doing it.